[Cultural] Southern Hemisphere Chinese Literature ArchiveAuthor: JEFFI CHAO HUI WU Time: 2025-07-01 Tuesday, 12:37 PM ········································ [Cultural] Southern Hemisphere Chinese Literature Archive I have never deliberately left anything for myself, but perhaps it was destined that the moment I founded the "Australian Changfeng Information Network" in 2004, this platform would become one of the most complete literary archives in the Southern Hemisphere of the Chinese-speaking world. I have witnessed too many people writing heartfelt works on their phones, only to have them ultimately lost in the data that could not be completely transferred when changing devices; I have seen the massive amounts of content that surge daily in groups and social spaces, only to be completely buried a few days later. Information has never been so abundant, nor has it ever been so short-lived. From the very beginning, I established a complete "cross-era retrospective" creative system. My forum does not automatically delete old posts, does not rely on algorithms for selective forgetting, and does not depend on temporary traffic to assess content value. It does not sort by popularity, but instead creates a time coordinate and structural archive for the text. Even ten years later, if someone wants to trace back to a passage I wrote in 2007, it can be presented exactly as it was. This is not a boast, but a practice of "literary responsibility." This also made me realize that most writers in modern society have actually lost the sovereignty over their works. They upload their poems, writings, and photos to other people's systems, which have never promised to preserve them for a lifetime. Many people even forget how many works they have written, where they are stored, and whether they can be retrieved. Not to mention whether the next generation will be able to read them. Therefore, I feel that this platform is not only an extension of my writing but also a "shelter for works" for Chinese authors in the Southern Hemisphere. It is not a symbol of some outdated technology, but a backup repository of literary civilization, a silent declaration against forgetting and a refusal to be obliterated. In today's world, it seems that everyone is publishing content, yet in reality, no one is seriously reading or appreciating it. After the proliferation of smartphones and social platforms, information floods people's hearts like a tide, but the words that are truly preserved are becoming fewer and fewer. Whenever people change their phones, lose their computers, or deactivate their accounts, the words they once wrote with great emotion mostly disappear. Many people even forget what they have written and do not know where it once existed. I have witnessed firsthand the closure of countless Chinese literary websites over the past decade, with platforms collapsing, links becoming invalid, and works disappearing. Those pages that once carried the dreams of authors ultimately ended up without even a 404 error, leaving only a silent wasteland. My platform—the Australian Changfeng Information Network and the self-created Australian Rainbow Parrot International Writers' Association website—has been continuously operating since 2005, with ongoing server maintenance and content updates, and even the National Library of Australia has been automatically archiving it for a long time. This is not just a web platform; it is more like an archive of Chinese literature in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the cultural backups for Chinese writers around the world. In an era consumed by "short content" and "instant likes," it is difficult for us to reclaim a space for quiet writing and systematic reading. I establish forums and writing groups not to cater to anyone's traffic rules, but to leave a place for this generation and the next generation of Chinese-language creators to look back on. It is not the fleeting noise of social media, but a home for words that can accompany us for ten or twenty years. This is a spiritual island that I have preserved against the tide after the wave of civilization receded. It may not be lively, it may not be fashionable, but it authentically retains the thoughts, tears, and brilliance of our generation of writers. In this era, what we may need is not more "trending topics," but rather a little less "loss." I will rigorously analyze the current trends and their concerns from four levels: I. Mobile Phones and Social Media: Fostering Creation, Yet Destroying Creation Surface: The Era of Universal Writing • Various social media platforms allow everyone to become a "writer." • The threshold for writing is extremely low, allowing everyone to produce "works," leading to an extreme increase in quantity. Essence: Extreme Fragmentation + Extreme Forgetting • Content is highly fragmented: sentences are compressed into headlines, and thoughts are distilled into slogans. • Information is easily drowned out: content in Moments almost disappears after 48 hours. Works in group chats are instantly pushed away. • The system does not encourage memorization: likes, shares, and algorithmic distribution have become the standards for value judgment, but these cannot be stored, categorized, or retrieved in the long term. Result: More and more "vital works" are disappearing in the "seemingly active ecology." II. The Collective Loss of Voice Among Chinese Authors 1. The "silent consensus" among authors: • Everyone is creating, yet they do not look at, comment on, or save each other’s work. • Good works go unread, while bad works are repeatedly circulated. • Everyone wants to be "seen," but no one is willing to "look." 2. The "disappearing storage" of knowledge: • A large amount of original text exists only in: a certain phone, a certain WeChat chat, a certain public account draft box. • Once these words are lost due to device damage, platform bans, or device changes, no one will know them again. 3. Writers become "platform-dependent": • No longer possessing their own "writing territory," but drifting among various "platform rules." • The work does not belong to oneself, but to WeChat, Weibo, Zhihu, Toutiao... Once the account is gone, everything resets to zero. III. The Reverse Reflection of the Value of My Platforms (Australian Changfeng Forum, Australian Rainbow Parrot Forum) The "Australian Longwind Information Network" that I created serves as a counterexample and remedy to the aforementioned structural crisis: It is a system-level "Chinese Civilization Archive." • From 2005 to present, 20 years of continuous operation. • Since 2007, it has been fully indexed and continuously updated by the National Library of Australia for many years, which means its content has attained national-level documentary status. • Works are stored, categorized, and can be searched and traced, rather than being erased or archived by the platform. It is a "non-platform-dependent" habitat for Chinese authors: • The author truly owns the rights to their work, without relying on third-party traffic systems. • Each article and each post has an "address of existence" that will not vanish into thin air with the collapse of the account. IV. Deep Crisis: Intergenerational Break in Civilization and "Silent Extinction" The three profound questions I raise should alert all creators: 1. How many people have used their phones for over 10 years without replacing them? The work disappears with the phone, not偶发, but a system-level phenomenon. 2. How many people can transfer 100% of the old device's content? o Incomplete data backup = Break in cultural heritage. 3. Has anyone ever counted how many works they have written? Writing without the sovereignty of knowledge is "orphaned work," which cannot be traced back in the future. Summary: This is not a problem of fragmentation, but rather the destruction of the mechanism for the survival of civilization. The convenience of mobile phones and social platforms has brought about a "writing illusion," but has not left behind a "literary legacy." What truly preserves Chinese wisdom and emotions is not likes and shares, but a storage mechanism that can transcend generations. Source: http://www.australianwinner.com/AuWinner/viewtopic.php?t=696596 |